Our second favorite True Blood hottie, Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) completed an exclusive interview with NextMovie.com, discussing that other vampire mega franchise Twilight, posing naked on magazine covers and his newset project — an indie outlaw-thriller Red Hill, opening November 5.
You’ve been most visible on TV – specifically “True Blood.” Where do you see your film career going?
I’m moving into making choices that challenge me. Nothing can be more uninspiring than choosing films that are very similar to “True Blood” or characters exactly like Jason. I’m trying to do films that are a total departure.
I’m Charles Manson in a film next year, producing that too, with the same guy who wrote “The Machinist” writing and directing it. I’m producing another film as well.
Is there any appeal for you in a huge franchise? There was an audience pulling for you to get a part in “Breaking Dawn,” for instance.
Not really. I see why people love it and I see why it has a huge audience. I just don’t like that material, it’s just not my cup of tea.
I think you got the “Red Hill” script and thought, “This is beautiful, but it’s missing something.” Can you negotiate a panther in a movie deal?
We shot this before there was a panther in “True Blood,” though, and I hadn’t read that far. I think it inhibits the way I play Jason if I know too much. I like to know as much as him. If I forecast the future too much, it hinders my performance.
Is it easier for you to immerse yourself in roles when you’re not using your natural accent?
100%… I already spent eight years of my career back in Australia doing Australian characters, and nothing could be more uninspiring than playing more Australian characters. I take great pride in immersing myself in whatever accent I was doing out here. I’ve done everything from Boston accents, to Mississippi, to Louisiana to West Texas, all sorts.
When you’re adopting an accent for a part and you break, do you immediately go back to your natural accent?
I always go back to my voice between takes. I think [in the "True Blood" cast] Anna probably stays in it the most. But yeah, I know I do.
One final question: some of your co-stars posed nude on the cover of Rolling Stone. Is that something you’d ever do?
Ah no, there’s no reason to. I do it somewhat willingly for “True Blood” — it always come from a story point that is never truly arbitrary. I can’t for the life of me see why I would [pose nude], unless it was an unbelievable pitch.
I don’t see why there would be a need for me to be nude on the cover of a magazine.